Ooh, this is all so interesting, obviously being new to folksy I’m intrigued by this. I only started here in August and have only really managed to start listing things this October- so not having paid for plus has been a good decision. Saying that, I have noticed it’s the seller’s with strong fb followers who are getting sales, I didn’t want to go down that avenue, but it seems to be the only way. I don’t even have a fb account anymore; I was fed up with seeing what everyone was doing every minute of the day -I’m controversial, I know, haha.
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Hi everyone
I too have decided not to renew my Folksy Plus Account when it runs out in December. I have had good sales really and can’t complain on that front, but due to personal circumstances I am unable to promote my shop as much as I need to. Since my drop in promotion I’ve noticed a big drop in sales and also in shop views. To be honest it has become a chore now and the promotion side is greater than the making side. I will take a break, close my facebook page down too and see what happens from there. I want to do things for myself including making myself a quilt, crocheting and at the moment I have absolutely no time whatsoever to do these things.
I am also fed up with Facebook and the very poor reaches of some of my posts. I might be back at some point in the future, who knows. I think you get to a point in your own mind where you feel enough is enough, would you agree?
Jane xxx
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That’s a shame Jane but you are right that you know yourself what feels right. I hope the break works out for you and that you get some time for yourself. I always say I won’t let it become a chore and so far it hasn’t but I can see how it could do xx
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Hi Flying Balloons, Welcome to Folksy, Plus Account is all about maths, if you think you are going to list a huge amount and get a goodly number of sales then it’s really worth it. This next year or so I’m not going to list as much so I’d rather pay the listing fee’s individually. 
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Mine ran out yesterday and I am not renewing for now. My views have been down and my sales pretty much non-existant. I liked the flexibility of it but it has to pay off and really for all the effort I have put into it over this last year it has not really been paying. My shop will still be around and I will still be promoting. Cassie
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I had a plus account for 2 years and it really worked for me. Then about june/july time my views dropped and my normal relisting / promoting was having no effect. I decided not to renew when it came up in August. I think facebook may well have something to do with the drop in views and sales but I also think I need to put more effort in on alternative sites / shops too.
Emma
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My views stopped around the time Folksy changed their front page. I agree that FB is making a big difference too, I used to get people popping over via fb but that’s not happening now 
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Do you think that was about june / july I hadn’t put 2 and 2 together.
My real sales fall was last September. Before that I was selling lots more I think they reworked the whole site about that time.
Its a shame but like i said I need to look to other sites too and spread my effort so £45 for just here suddenly seemed a lot,
Emma
Emma I’m not sure if the 2 things are linked but nothing surprises me any more.
I have a shop on another site and all my sales from there have been via google search or my blog.
There are so many pages that don’t crop up on my fb page as they used to so I’m sure that my page is just as elusive.
Jan
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I have just renewed my plus account after my first year at Folksy which was quite busy with 68 sales. The first 2 months I didn’t sell anything but then it really picked up and had steady sales averaging about 8 a month. Unfortunately, the past 6 weeks, sales have been scarce and views greatly diminished but ever the optimist I decided to renew.
Dawn, you have beautiful items in your shop. Do you network anywhere else and do you have a fb page? It’s a shame about the slowdown but hopefully things will pick up for Christmas
Jan x
Thank you Jan, love your shop too. I do have a personal facebook page but never really do much with it to be honest (maybe I should). Like yours, my sales and views slowed down when the front page changed, we will just have to hope things will pick up before Christmas.
Dawn x
The thing is Di I do love being creative, but I simply cannot find the time just at the moment - feeling quite sad about the whole thing to be honest 
Jx
I am sorry you are thinking of finishing Jane @jazzyjane1 I will miss seeing your lovely creations.
I hope you don’t close your shop though - maybe just stop promoting and making things to sell for a few months.
Maybe the urge will come back when you have made some personal creations and had a rest.
Shirley x
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My plus account doesn’t run out until next July, so I don’t need to make a decision for some time. But since the loss of the recently listed, my views are down, just 4 yesterday. I probably don’t promote enough but I can’t really see paying for folksy then having to put such a huge effort in to promote it, I’ll save that for my own website. I’ve been on folksy for about 3 1/2 years and haven’t even made 100 sales yet. Up until last October things were ticking along nicely but since then sales have been very poor. If things pick up then I’ll renew but if they don’t I won’t be. I don’t have a huge FB following ( hundreds not thousands like some of the more successful sellers), so even when I do promote folksy only 1 or 2 will find their way over here - because of the way that FB now works. Maybe I need to rethink the kind of things I make, maybe they’re just not what people want. I’m not trying to sound as if I’m feeling sorry for myself, it’s just that I’m totally at a loss as to what to do …
Hi Linda,
Your items are lovely and you have your own unique style, I can always recognise your work before I see the name. Good luck with sales.
Dawn x
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I was never much good at promoting but was doing so well in 2012 that I thought my sales would be increasing year on year. But as soon as the Folksy people started tinkering with the site they plummeted, and have seriously declined to nothing since the front page change. I don’t do Google analytics, but I suspect most of the views I get on here are from other Folksy sellers who aren’t looking to buy. I regret renewing my Plus account as it’s not much use to a dead shop and I feel like I’ve given Folksy money they don’t deserve…
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I love the plus account. I renewed in July and hope to carry on renewing in the future. My sales were up each month from April to September in comparison to the year before. I joined Folksy in April 2013. However this month I have had 5 sales and it doesn’t look like I will better last October’s tally of 14. With Christmas coming up, I think this is a little worrying.
I am not on Facebook, but promote via the Folksy forums, Craftjuice, Craftori and Pinterest.
Anyway, ever the optimist, I am going to carry on as usual and hope the Christmas rush will start very soon for all of us.
Pauline x
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I’ve been doing a spot of analysis on GA, just to see what the real picture is, rather than our perceived view of things. I’ve compared my shop over the past month with the same period last year to get an idea of how the viewing pattern has changed.
Viewing sessions are down by 25% this year. The average session duration is also down by 22%.
However, users have increased by 60%, pages/session have increased by 60%, page views are up by 21%. The bounce rate is lower, and the percentage of New Sessions has more than doubled, with new visitors now accounting for 71% of total visitors. This is completely different to last year when returning visitors made up 68% of the total.
This implies that Folksy is now attracting a new audience, who browse quickly but look at more pages! Previously I had more repeat visitors - possibly other sellers or regular Folksy buyers - who spent more time browsing and coming back more often, and maybe more likely to buy something.
If we’re all getting the same shift in visitor type, then maybe we need to find a way to ‘hook’ those new visitors. Photos, titles and branding probably play a much more important role than before. I’m going to do a bit more analysis to see whether I can determine where they’re coming from compared to last year too.
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More interesting statistics (for those of us who are a bit geeky about such things )
Still looking at the past month compared to the same period last year:
Direct sessions have increased by 51% this year and are now 38% of total sessions.
Google/organic sessions have decreased by 25% in line with overall visits, which is a bit of a concern.
Referrals have decreased overall, but Facebook and other social network referrals have increased. Last year there were 174 referrals from folksy.com, but none this year, so I don’t understand that. Perhaps this was due to changes made to the way the site works?
So I’m now getting more Direct visitors, but fewer Google visitors, and more from Facebook, possibly due to my posts on the British Crafters page and a bit more promotion there.
I’m not sure whether the Direct visits include people who find me on Folksy search, or by browsing on Folksy? Or are they just people who type in my folksy shop address?
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